Making Yogurt

A few days ago Karen updated her facebook status to something like "Thinking about making yogurt from scratch. Wondering if I'm becoming a hippie." Well, I'd argue that anyone that titles their blog "Off the (Meat) Hook" probably is in no danger of becoming a hippie. I think she's safe. More interestingly, we agreed to both conduct yogurt making experiments.

So I experimented. The result was not a terrible failure, as I had first thought, but, I wouldn't call it a grand success either. What happened was:

I started with whole raw milk. Since the first step was to heat the milk to 180F, I felt it would be an interesting and wholesome choice to go with unpasteurized milk. If you're at all freaked out by this, use the pasteurized stuff, by all means. I've never tried raw milk before, and you can taste the difference. It tastes somewhat fresher and cleaner, if that makes sense.

Why heat the milk to 180? Well, you want to kill off any unwanted bacteria, so you can introduce your own desired bacteria. This is best done over a double boiler, to prevent scorching, but I used a regular pan and that worked just fine. Heat to 180, once it reaches that, remove and cool.

Now comes the tricky part. Really tricky. And, not terribly fun. You need to monitor the milk as it cools. Yeah. Annoying. The goal, a temperature between 108 - 112 degrees. Why? Well, that's the temperature that the good yogurt making bacteria does best.

So, when you get there, which will take tedious time, stir in two tablespoons of organic plain yogurt. I know, why not just eat that yogurt instead?! Well, maybe you should. But for the sake of the experiment, stir it in. This introduces yogurt cultures to the milk, starting the process of fermentation. If you decide you love making yogurt, you can save a small part of each batch to use as a starter for the next one.

Now comes the tricky part. Really tricky. And, not terribly fun. Wait, did I just say that? I did. Like I said, this is a tedious experiment. Now, you have to keep the fermenting pre-yogurt at the same 108 - 112 degrees for 4-6 hours. Fun!!!!!

I took my warm milkgurt and put it in the oven. Luckily, I have an old timey 1950s gas oven. The pilot flame keeps the inside of the oven at about...110 degrees! Lucky me. So, I just left it there, stirring and taking the temp from time to time. After 4 hours, nothing. After 6, it smelt and tasted a little sour (good) but the consistency remained about the same (bad). So, I went out for a beer.

Two hours later, not much had changed. The whatever it was now became a bit thicker, but not very yogurt-like. I figured what would be done was done, so I removed it from the oven and put it in the fridge.

The next day, things looked better. A decent sized pool of watery whey had formed on the top. I poured this off, stirred the mix, and, found I had indeed made something that kind of resembled yogurt. It was a little more sour than the commercial yogurt. I added a fair amount of honey and agave, and it was pretty good. Grainier texture than I would have wanted, but pretty good.

Was this worth it? Probably not. The flavor, once sweetened a bit, was slightly better than commercial yogurt. The texture was not. This was a lot of tedious work. There are very good small batch yogurts for sale just about everywhere. I'm going to continue to buy those.

Maybe Karen will have better luck. She's much more science-minded than I am. (Her dad is some kind of world famous neuroscientist, and that clearly has rubbed off.) Also, she's a dirty hippie.

I should add that whatever it was I made was fine with my belly. So, although I didn't make perfect yogurt, I didn't make myself sick, either!

Beef Lasagna

Lasagna is awesome.  There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.  It takes a wee bit of work, sure.  So worth it, though.  I encourage you to use grass fed beef.  It really makes a huge difference, both in flavor and in the way we treat the enviornment.  More about that soon.

2 lbs. Ground Beef, 15-20 % fat content
6 Cloves Garlic, smashed
32 oz Ricotta Cheese
2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
1 Cup Parmigiano Reggiano, shredded
1 Egg
2 Tablespoons Italian Seasoning
1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg (optional)
64 oz Tomato Sauce, homemade or your favorite
Lasagna Noodles

Begin by mixing all the ricotta cheese and half of the other cheeses in a bowl.  Add egg, 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, nutmeg, salt, and half the garlic.  Set aside.

Season ground beef with salt, pepper, and the remaining Italian seasoning & garlic. In a large pan, lightly brown the beef.  While browning, break the beef up into small bits.  This will get easier as the meat cooks.  The whole process should take about 4 minutes.  Don't worry if all the beef isn't brown- it's best not to overcook it.  Drain fat, and stir in about 1/4 of the tomato sauce.

Cover bottom of lasagna pan with sauce.  Add lasagna noodles (check package to see if you need to pre-cook).  Add a layer of beef, then a layer of cheese, cover with sauce and a new layer of pasta.  Repeat the process twice more, so you have three layers of goodness.  Cover top layer of pasta with more sauce, then top that with the remaining mozzarella & parmesan cheese.

Cover lasagna pan with foil.  Poke a few tiny holes in the foil with a knife.  This will allow some steam to escape, and help prevent the foil from sticking to the top layer of cheese (a sad sad sad thing).  Move to a 375 degree oven, and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove foil, and broil an additional 10 minutes, or until cheese is golden brown. 

Let cool for at least 20 minutes.  Seriously.  After all this work and time, you're going to be tempted to dig right in.  Don't do it buddy.  Everything will fall apart if you do.  Give it time to cool a bit and settle.  Life will be better that way.  It always is.

Duck Confit

Duck Legs

4 Cloves Garlic

3 Shallots

6 Sprigs Thyme

Salt

Two Cups Duck Fat (!)

Ingredients per two legs

Welcome back to the world of dishes that take a lot of patience,

 but very little effort.  So, this might seem like it's a chore.  The reality is, this is amazingly easy to make.  Added bonus, your kitchen will smell more amazing than it ever has.

Here's the most challenging part of the dish- finding duck legs!  You'll be able to get them fresh at upscale markets like Whole Foods.  Ask the butcher if you don't see any out there.  You'll also be able to find them frozen at most decent grocery stores.

Once you've acquired the legs, it's time to cure.  Give them a decent coating of salt, rub it all over.  Crush garlic and shallots, stuff some under skin with half the thyme.  Place the remainder on the flesh side.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 48 hours.  Yup, patience.  After 48 hours, rinse the duck.

Now for something you've never done before...cooking in duck fat!  Where you find the duck, you'll find the fat.  Melt the fat over low heat, add the duck, and place in a 225F oven.  Let the duck cook slowly for about 3 hours.  Trust me, you're going to be a happy camper.  My whole apartment smelled like heaven.

Remove the duck from the oven, remove from fat, pat dry.  Happiness.

If you're totally against cooking in duck fat, you can use olive oil.  Fear not, the duck will still taste great.  Perhaps not as great, but pretty great nonetheless.  If you do (and you should!) go for the fat, you can strain it and refrigerate.  A little duck fat when cooking will make everything taste better.  My chef friends agree!